Tonight two cargo vessels are waiting at sea and the shelves in the port warehouse are bare because the Port of Belize remains closed, more than a week after a barge crashed into it.
CEO Arturo Vasquez told us this evening that the damaged beams have been removed and hauled away, and work on the news ones has been completed and everything re-assembled. Now, they are waiting for the cement to set so that the bridge can reach the required strength to support the massive weight of containers being hauled across it.
Work to cast the three beams that had to be replaced finished at 3:30 this morning - and the cement needs 24 hours to reach the required strength. So that should be finished at 3:30 tomorrow morning - in time for offloading of the Seaboard vessel to start at 8:00 am.
Vasquez says the Seaboard will be brought into dock tonight, so that it is ready for tomorrow morning. After that, the Palencia which has been waiting for four days to offload will get its turn.
But, this schedule depends on the outcome of a concrete stress test which is planned for tomorrow morning at 7:00,. Only if the concrete passes that test, will the bridge be cleared for heavy traffic.
The week of closure has seriously affected merchants, exporters and shipping agents. It was caused by an accident where the Krystal Tortuga barge crashed into the bridge last Tuesday morning.
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